


Sheltering Warmth

by Marantis



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon, Apologies, F/F, Flowers, Fluff, Ghosts, Haunted mansion, I try my hand at writing suspense, Meet-Cute, Naminé has a host of Pokémon but not all of them are mentioned, Xion has a Rockruff, but not really, lonely namine, pure and utter fluff, sweets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 09:26:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18466132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marantis/pseuds/Marantis
Summary: There’s a rumour that the old mansion out in the woods is haunted. Not believing that one in the slightest Xion goes to investigate on her own, but finds herself face to face with an ethereal presence none the less.





	Sheltering Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> The new Pokémon trailer is out and to no ones surprise I got myself an express ticket for the hype train. That and my renewed obsession with Kingdom Hearts lead to this.  
> Thanks to wonderful Malte for taking a look over this and beeing encouraging in general!  
> I hope you enjoy!

Xion stood, looking down the narrow dirt path that snaked between the branches of bushes and trees. Located at the end of the path was the haunted mansion, but through the thick of the foliage only glimpses of white stone were visible to her.

She bit down on her lip. Next to her, her Rockruff snuffled and pressed itself close to her legs, the rocks in its fur digging into her skin. She bent down to scratch behind its ears while contemplating her next move. To be honest Xions reason for being here was pretty dumb. Her and her best friends had been hanging out and Axel brought up a story he had heard about some kid venturing into the mansion and crapping their pants because of some scary apparition or other. Xion had laughed heartily. So what? A house with a Gastly inside, big news. In reaction to that Roxas had dared her to poke her head around the mansion herself and Axel had joined in, at which point she couldn’t back out again, or her friends would be teasing her with her perceived cowardice for all of eternity.

So she had come here to investigate, but actually approaching the thing proved to be more nerve-wracking than she had assumed it would. As Xion had wandered through the small forest the underbrush had been brimming with noise of small Pokemón shuffling about but now that she stood at the crossroads that lead to the mansion itself it was eerily quiet all of a sudden.

Xion weighed her options. On one hand she could just leave again and either admit that she didn’t go through with it because it was dumb to begin with, or lie and tell her friends nothing happened as it was just a boring old mansion. The other option of course was actually going in. She didn’t like lying to her friends, not that she was any good at it. Her friends were too adapt at looking right through her, but she really wasn’t in the mood for their teasing.

With a huff she stood back up again. Her Rockruff shook itself, the rocks in its fur clinking together. “Guess we’re going in.” She started along the path leading towards the building, calling her Rockruff to follow her with a sharp whistle.

Here and there she had to brush low hanging branches out of the way and step over roots that had grown over the path. This was the first hint towards the mansion being abandoned. Cementing that assumption was the façade once it appeared in a gap between the thicket. Xion couldn’t pinpoint what the original colour had had been, the stones having been bleached by the sun over time. Now it resembled the tone of eggshells. Along the side of it ivy had climbed its way up the wall, dislodging individual stones and pushing out mortar here and there. One of the frontal windows had been barricaded shut with wood boards.

Swallowing, Xion stepped through the garden gate which squeaked as she pushed it open. First she approached the front window that wasn’t nailed shut, but to no avail. All she could see was the fabric of a lace curtain which was too tightly woven to make out anything behind it.

She went over to the entrance door, her Rockruff loyally following her every step. It was made from solid wood that had been painted once but most of the paint had chipped off at this point. It swung inward as soon as Xion pushed against it. However it did so with a loud whine. Hesitantly she stepped over the threshold. The ancient floorboards of the entrance creaked beneath her feet. “Sorry for the intrusion” she couldn’t help mumbling. Even though all evidence up till now pointed to the house being empty, except maybe some cobwebs, Xion felt a vague presence. And if there was a ghost type Pokémon around, she didn’t want to be rude. Well ruder than she was being by entering without invitation.

From the entrance there were several doorways leading to other rooms, as well as a grand staircase in the middle of it all. Looking up at the chandelier, that had possibly been golden at one point, Xion imagined how splendid the mansion must have looked at the height of its grandeur.

She contemplated going up the stairs, but in the end she decided against it. They might look solid enough, but she didn’t want to risk them crumbling underneath her. Who knew how sturdy the upper portion of the house still was? Better she stayed on ground level.

The first doorway she wandered through let to a kitchen. It was surprisingly clean, not much for dust or debris. Xion found it slightly unnerving. There should have been dust with how long the mansion had been abandoned. However it wasn’t like there couldn’t be a totally plausible explanation. Minccino for example always kept their surroundings immaculate. Even though this would be the first time Xion saw a wild one around here.

Continuing on she stepped into a room that had been something akin to a dining area. A large wooden table took up most of the space. It had room for somewhere around a dozen chairs, Xion mused, but only four remained stood around it. One of them had a tear in the faded fabric of the upholstery. Parts of the stuffing were visible through the gap. Another thing Xion noticed on a different chair was a smear, of what appeared to be paint, on one of its legs.

The dining room connected back to the entrance area, but as Xion passed through it again, to get to the doorway she hadn’t inspected yet, she heard a noise from upstairs. Her head jerked upwards, but no other noise was heard. She looked at her Rockruff. It had its ears perked forward, apparently also listening for another sound. Again Xion contemplated going upstairs. It was still potentially dangerous, but Rockruff was with her and she really wanted to know what had made that noise.

So she approached the stairs and cautiously made her way up, one hand resting on the railing at all times. She emerged on a corridor that connected to several doors. To her left the corridor ended in a small area with a window, through which the late afternoon sun was shining. To her right there was a door at the end of the hallway.

Drawn by some notion she decided to investigate the last door to her right first. Gingerly she poked her head into the room, but it was empty except for a stuffed chair with a side table in the middle of it. What caught her eye however were the floor length windows that completely lined one side. As Xion stepped towards them, the view from it showed her a vibrant garden. It had not been visible from the front and Xion struggled to remember if there had been a hedge or something of that sort obstructing her view as she had walked up to the mansion. Xion could hardly tear her gaze from the beds of beautiful flowers below her. There were so many colourful blooms that she could only put names to a few of them. A few rosebushes and she spied sunflowers but many more escaped her knowledge.

However, her attention was ripped from the beautiful sight by another sound originating from somewhere behind her. She left the room with the garden view, but when she stepped in the corridor once more, she froze in her tracks. In front of the window there, stood a girl. She was silhouetted in the light streaming in behind her. Her pale blond hair, white dress and powdery blue eyes made her look translucent. She seemed almost as surprised as Xion to see her here. Xion didn’t know how long they had been staring at each other, when the girl shifted slightly.

Xion didn’t stay to see what she was about to do. She picked up her Rockruff and sprinted for the stairs, which were luckily closer to her than to the apparition. Then she tore down the steps at break neck speed. Not sparing a thought to the stability of the structure this time around. Out the door and through the squeaking gate she flew. Her heart was pounding heavily in her chest. This hadn’t been a Gastly or some other Pokémon getting up to spooky hijinks! Pokémon didn’t appear in the shape of ethereal girls! The stories had been true.

Only once Xion stepped onto the main path leading through the woods did she slow down again. The fear still stuck in her bones she started on her way home, wondering if her best friends would believe her when she told them of this encounter.

POV Naminé  
Naminè watched with a blank look on her face as the black haired girl raced down the steps and out the front door. That had been yesterday. Sadly enough this wasn’t as isolated an occurrence as one would think. Only last week something similar had happened. Only then there had been more screaming.

Naminé sighed dejectedly and continued on her way. She had just put a bowl of fruit down for the Noibat that lived in the attic. It was only one of the Pokémon Naminé lived with, most of them she had rescued. They had either been abandoned by their trainers, which as far as Naminé was concerned was one of the most abhorrent deeds one could commit, or had gotten hurt in the wild and been in need of help.

Those Pokémon were the reason why she had moved to this old mansion. She had gotten the assistance of Professor Ansem, who had purchased the building for Naminé to turn into a Pokémon shelter. At this point it was functional but still a long ways away from being in a good condition. Naminé didn’t really have an affinity for craftsmanship, so currently the most put together areas of the house were the kitchen by necessity, and the garden.

Having descended the stairs Naminé passed through the sitting area to step through the glass terrace door out onto a porch. The porch was small and the wood was weather beaten. Not to speak of the holes where planks were missing, but still the Liepard and Roselia had chosen it as an adequate place to take a nap. The two Pokémon were huddled together in a pile and Naminé couldn’t help but smile at the adorable sight. The Liepard she had found abandoned in an alley at her old town. It had been half starved and a truly pitiful sight, but that hadn’t stopped it from lashing out at Naminé at first. It had taken a while for it to come around. The Roselia in contrast had just wandered into the garden a few days after she had moved here and made itself right at home. Its presence did much for the Liepards temper, which Naminé was thankful for. It had also played a big role in getting the garden presentable, its help indispensable in getting this many flowers to bloom in what ultimately had been a relatively short amount of time. She resisted the temptation to slide her hand over the Liepards fur while passing by, for that would ultimately result in scratches.

So she just settled down next to them, gaze lingering on the flowers softly swaying in the wind. It was still warm, even though the sun was already setting and the orange light flooded the garden, tinging everything in a golden hue. Naminé pondered the encounter with the black haired girl. Maybe she should put up a shield so people would stop just barging in, but to be honest it wasn’t the unannounced visitors that irked her. It was the fact that they all seemed frightened of her and thus she didn’t get a chance to interact with them.

In this moment Naminé heard a shuffling originating from the direction of the mansions main door. The garden was cut off from the front of the building by an overgrown hedge that also did a pretty good job of obscuring a small garden gate from view, thus Naminé couldn’t immediately discern the source of the noise. So she got up and went over to the small passage. The Liepard stirred for a second before deeming whatever was going on as unimportant and going right back to napping.

Same as most other hinges in the house, the small portal squeaked when Naminé pushed it open. To her surprise it was the girl from yesterday standing on the front steps seemingly unsure how to proceed, while a Rockruff weaved between her legs playfully. She whirled around startled at the squeak of the garden door opening. “You’re back” was all Naminé could think to say, mustering the girl in quiet bafflement.

The girl blushed and took a few steps towards her. “Yeah. I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I was incredibly rude. First for basically breaking and entering and then leaving in the manner I did. I brought you this as an apology.” The words tumbled out of her mouth in one long rush of air and with that she thrust a small, decorated box at Naminé. The Rockruff sensing its trainers discomfort looked up to her in worry.

Tentatively she took the box out of the girls hands looking over the packaging. The girl let out a breath of relief as Naminé accepted the gift. “It’s sweets. I don’t know if you’ll like them, or like sweets at all, but they’re my favourite, so I thought maybe you will.” The girl was rambling on not a single breath between the words and her face was darkening as a result. Naminé couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of her sheepishness, which startled the girl looking at her with wide eyes. It was not dissimilar to the look she had given her yesterday, Naminé mused.

“Why don’t you come back through to the garden and eat them with me if they’re your favourite?” Naminé proposed. She would love some company that she could actually hold a conversation with. While she wasn’t lonely per say, with her Pokémon around, it would be nice for once to not have to interpret various tonally variants of the same word to deduce a meaning from them.

The girl raised her hands in a defensive gesture. “No, no I couldn’t. I brought them for you. It wouldn’t really be a real apology gift if I ended up eating part of it.”

“I insist. See it as part of your apology”, suggested Naminé, before motioning for the girl to follow her through the garden gate. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the Rockruff nudge its trainers calves and then trot ahead of her into the garden.

“Whoa, it’s even more beautiful up close.” At that Naminé turned back and saw the look of awe on the girls face.

The corners of Naminés mouth drew upwards until there was a soft smile on her face. “It really is. Most of the thanks for that goes to Roselia.” She nodded towards were the small pile of Pokémon had come to pay attention, warily eyeing the Rockruff in particular. They both settled down on the porch, the Rockruff sat down by the girls feet and Naminé pried open the box of sweets and held it out to the other girl.

The girl smiled and pushed it back at her. “No, you at least should have first choice.” Then she hesitated for a second before adding: “Um, I’m Xion by the way.”

Naminés smile grew in brightness. “My names Naminé.” She introduced herself, before deliberating the sweets nestled in delicate foil or paper wrappings laid out before her. They all looked really good, from the ones covered in chocolate patterns, to the ones with fruit on top. “I can’t decide! They all look amazing.” Naminé looked helplessly over to the freshly introduced Xion, who chuckled.

Then the girl took mercy on her and pointed at one piece topped off with a swirl of pale blue cream. “I like this one best because it’s not too sweet and it really makes your mouth water for more.”

Naminé nodded, contemplating and then carefully lifted the delicate treat from the box and ate it. The cream dissolved like seafoam brushing up on the shore on her tongue, leaving behind a salty taste that accompanied the fruity sweetness of the pastry beneath it quite lovely. Excitedly she turned to Xion again. “It’s delicious! No wonder it is your favourite.”

Xion smiled brightly. “I’m glad you like it, would be a really bad apology gift if you didn’t.”

Naminé waved her words away with a hand gesture. “Nonsense, you’re already forgiven, no need to keep apologizing.” She extended the box of sweets out towards the other girl. “Now have some. I’d feel bad about not sharing something so delicious.”

Xion nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before leaning over and taking one of the seafoam cream treats from the box. Her expression morphed into one of delight as she ate it.

“So, are Roselia and Liepard your only Pokémon?” Xion asked curiously with a glance in the Pokémons direction, after she had swallowed her mouthful.

Naminé shook her head. “No there’s a few more, but most of them are quite shy, or aren’t really fond of the daylight.”

Xion nodded, taking in that information before faltering a bit. “Um, I hope I’m not being too nosy by asking, but why did you move all the way out here into the mansion?”

Naminé licked some chocolate residue from her last treat off her fingers before answering. “Because it was really cheap for its size. I wanted a property to open up a Pokémon shelter and for that I need a lot of space. The mansion is basically perfect.” Naminé bit down on her lip. “I just didn’t quite imagine how much work fixing it up would be.”

“Well if this garden is anything to go by, then it will only be a matter of time before your shelter will be up to scratch!” Xion reassured. “I find it really admirable what you want to do.” Naminé was touched by the others words. While yes, she had received words of support from the professor and her fellow assistants, none of them had been quite so optimistic about it. “Hey, honestly I’d like to help you. I may not be an expert when it comes to handiwork, but I do know with which end of the hammer to hit a nail with.” At those words one corner of Xions mouth turned up into a crooked grin.

For a moment Naminé stared at her stunned by her offer and how roguish the grin made her look. “Yes of course!” excited she said finally, setting the box of sweets down on the porch in order to clasp Xions hands in hers. “I’d be grateful for a bit of help and you’re more than welcome to come by anytime you want.”

Xion broke eye contact letting her gaze drop down to her Rockruff, a pink tint on her cheeks and sporting a shy smile. “That’s great. I can by tomorrow and bring some tools along. One of my friends is bound to have some lying around.” At least she hoped so. There was no telling how badly Axel was failing at adulting, but a tool box was the least one should be able to expect from a household.

Naminé giggled, exited at the prospect of future visits from the charming girl. “I’ll be looking forward to your next visits then.”

Xion met her eyes. “It’s a promise” she said softly. Naminé could feel her cheeks begin to burn at the other girls earnestness, only managing to nod dumbly.

They continued staring into each other’s eyes for an undetermined amount of time, until they were broken out of their reverie by the scrunching of foil. “Liepard!” Naminé shouted incredulous. The Pokémon however certainly wasn’t impressed by her indignation. Nose held high, it wandered off again, back to its spot by the Roselia, as if nothing had happened. This however was belied by the cream that clung to the fur around its mouth. Next to her Xion broke out into uproarious laughter, going so far as to double over and clutch her belly. Spurred on by Xions mirth, Naminé too began to laugh, which in turn only made Xion laugh harder as an undignified snort escaped the blond.

Once they finally calmed down, no easy feat as they managed to get startled into more laughter by each others breathless faces more than once, they gazed upon each other with smitten smiles before simultaneously turning their eyes away in embarrassment. The intense eye contact proved to be too much for them both. “Well I should probably get going, before it gets too dark” said Xion, fidgeting with the hem of her black top.

Naminé nodded. “Y-yes, that would be advisable.” They stood up stiffly and Naminé hoped this awkwardness would abate again quickly. She escorted Xion to the garden gate and they both said their goodbyes, Xion promising again to return tomorrow.

Naminè stood, watching Xion leave down the path but jumped slightly when the girl turned around once more, just before the point where the thicket of the forest would obscure her from view. Even from this distance she could see Xions bright smile as the girl waved at her. With a smile of her own, Naminé raised her hand and waved back. The smile stayed on her face once Xion ducked between the branches, the Rockruff bounding around her legs. And it stayed the rest of the evening, persisting as she lay in bed waiting to fall asleep and staying firmly in place even as she floated off into the realm of dreams.


End file.
